RELUCTANT READER PRESS
THE COIN
BETWEEN US
History from the inside.
An immersive time-slip series that drops two modern friends into the lives of ordinary people at extraordinary moments in history.
Discover the seriesTHE SERIES
A world of adventure. A journey through time.
When Théo and Mara find a mysterious coin,
the past stops being something they read about.
It becomes somewhere they go to.
Each journey takes them to a different time and place, where history is still unfolding and nobody knows what comes next. Théo and Mara sometimes do. But knowing how history ends is very different from living through it.
They meet the people behind the dates and famous names — people who worked, argued, laughed, worried, made choices and tried to survive without knowing that one day their world would be called history.
History will never be quite the same again.
BOOK ONE
SIGNAL
They know how the battle ends. Nobody around them does.
Twelve-year-old Théo and Mara are transported from modern-day Guadeloupe to Athens in 490 BC, in the days before the Battle of Marathon. They find themselves living the lives of two ordinary Athenians as the Persian army approaches. They know what history says will happen. The people around them do not.
BOOK TWO
EXPOSED
A new journey into history.
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BOOK THREE
UNCOUNTED
Mali, 1324.
The richest king on earth is setting out for Mecca. Tens of thousands of people are following him across the Sahara, on a journey where even a small mistake can cost a life.
Théo is a camel boy. Mara is the daughter of the man who keeps the caravan's records. Her job is to count the goods, the provisions and, most importantly, the water.
Out here, survival depends on one simple rule. Every evening, the roll is called. If your name is on the list and you answer, you get water. If it isn't, you get nothing. And in the desert, going without water can quickly become a death sentence.
The king is travelling in disguise, with a decoy riding in his place. Someone is hunting him, and whoever it is will stop at nothing. Théo and Mara have no idea how close the danger has come—or whom they can trust.
Then Mara discovers a name on the roll. A name that belongs to no one. Yet every evening, someone answers.
THE IDEA BEHIND THE BOOKS
Just One More Chapter
I write The Coin Between Us for anyone who enjoys an adventure, whatever their age or reading experience.
My aim is simple: to tell stories that are easy to follow, full of incident, and entertaining enough to make you want to read just one more chapter.
Some readers will be discovering books for the first time. Others may simply want an enjoyable escape for a few hours. I hope there's something here for both.
If these stories encourage someone to read a little more and perhaps become curious about history along the way, I'll consider that an achievement.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Alexander Édmond Martin
Alexander has spent more than thirty years teaching young people in countries across Europe and the Middle East. His work in classrooms, together with a lifelong fascination with history, languages, travel and storytelling, shaped the beginnings of The Coin Between Us. The series brings the past close enough to hear people talking — and close enough to wonder what we might have done in their place.
BOOKSELLERS, MUSEUMS, SCHOOLS & LIBRARIES
Trade & Review Copies
Signal is available to the book trade. Review copies and further information are available for booksellers, museum and heritage shops, schools, libraries, reviewers and other interested organisations.